HARTFORD — An attorney for journalist-blogger Ken Krayeske said this week that his client’s rights were violated when he was arrested at Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s inaugural parade and that the state is playing politics with the case, which has been continued to March 2 in Hartford.

Krayeske, who managed the Green Party campaign against Rell last year, was arrested Jan. 3 for breach of peace and interfering with an officer while photographing the inaugural parade. Hartford and state police said he had approached the parade at a high rate of speed on his bicycle and that he showed "aggressive behavior" before being apprehended. They later acknowledged that an information sheet on Krayeske had been distributed at a police briefing the morning of the parade and that a list had been kept of individuals who might harm the governor or disrupt the parade.

Krayeske was held on a $75,000 bond for more than 12 hours — long enough to keep him away from the governor’s inaugural ball — and then released the next day on a promise to appear in court.

Krayeske’s attorney, Norman Pattis of Bethany, said Wednesday that the prosecutor’s office angrily refused to discuss the case with him when Krayeske appeared in court Jan. 30 to answer to charges. "I’ve never had a misdemeanor case where I’ve had the prosecution unwilling to talk to me. I found it shocking," Pattis said. "I think the case has become a political hot potato given the great amount of public interest."

That public interest was underscored Wednesday when the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) issued a press release calling for charges to be dropped against Krayeske.

"It’s not too late for Connecticut police to stop this fiasco and  embarrassment to law enforcement," said SPJ’s National President  Christine Tatum, an assistant business editor at The Denver Post.  "Police officers should not be faulted for stopping Mr. Krayeske and  inquiring about his actions if they believed he may have been a  threat to the governor. But it shouldn’t have taken almost 12 hours  and a trip to a police station for officers to determine that a man  who identified himself as a journalist and who was carrying a  knapsack containing little more than his camera meant no harm to Gov. Rell."

Pattis said calls for dropping the charges against Krayeske have actually hurt the case more than helped it. He noted that State Rep. Mike Lawlor (D-99), who has been vocal in his criticism of Krayeske’s treatment, had contacted the state’s attorney’s office about dropping the charges. "When that call happened the likelihood   that the case would be droped went down 100 percent." Pattis later told the Connecticut Post that support and publicity from groups like SPJ end up making the case more difficult to resolve.

Lawlor told The Winsted Journal last month that his main concern surrounded the idea that the governor’s security detail keeps a list of people who may merely pose a political threat to her. He said Krayeske was arrested "for no reason" and that a $75,000 bond for breach of peace is unheard of.

But Pattis reasoned this week that publicity and political pressure may be at the root of the state’s decision to continue the case. "They said they were doing a supplemental investigation and they wanted to wait until it was completed," he said. "It’s on hold right now."

Unfortunately for his client, Pattis said, the state’s refusal to discuss the case leaves Krayeske in a state of legal limbo, even if he believes he has done nothing wrong. "I’m confident that Mr. Krayeske will   avoid a conviciton but the question here is whether we’ll have to try the case or whether they’ll drop it. Until we can talk to the state  , we won’t know."

Outspoken in his own right, Pattis has told the Hartford Courant that, if the case goes to trial and he loses, he will shave his head on the courthouse steps. "It’s an interesting case," he said. "This time I’m on the side of the angels and I like that."